The Evolution of Military Staffs and the Possible Effects of Artificial Intelligence

The military staffs are vital parts of military organizations dealing with the numerous details required for the successful conduct of either the peace-time daily routine tasks or the war-time missions. In NATO’s view the staffs are the bodies of specialists whose main task is to provide advice for the commanders on problems at hand as well as to materialize a bold plan acting upon the commanders’ intent and guidance. Staffs capable of meeting these requirements do not have a long history, although different kind of advisory bodies of selected personnel were accompanied the military leaders throughout the history. The military staff of today can be considered as a step on the evolutionary ladder of staffs, on which the emerging technologies will reveal new steps to be taken. One of the most important technology that will affect, or revolutionize even, the internal work processes and the constitution of a military staff is the artificial intelligence. This paper describes the technological and social changes that led to the emergence of the current NATO staff organization and gives some hints about the possible future effects of artificial intelligence on the staff system.